Snap is the new sound of learning. In Kids, Cameras, and the Curriculum, Pat Barrett Dragan shows you how simple snapshots can open new entryways into literacy for all children, help you view your teaching and their learning in new ways, and build not only classroom-wide but schoolwide community.

 

Disposable or digital, cameras can make a big difference with young learners. From simple collages to school newspapers, Kids, Cameras, and the Curriculum offers projects that help children see the real-world possibilities in literate behaviors by using photos as a stimulus for literacy activities. Pat Barrett Dragan’s ingenious, hands-on uses for cameras have been developed in more than thirty years of teaching in the primary grades. They allow you to link children’s natural curiosity and enthusiasm with curricular goals, boost the confidence of struggling students, and give English learners new opportunities and support as they work toward fluent expression.

 

But cameras aren’t just for students. Dragan shows how a single snapshot of groups and individuals can provide a new perspective on what’s really happening in the classroom—an opportunity to spot potential conflicts, to see if lessons are working according to plan, or to capture a breakthrough. No matter who clicks the shutter, Dragan’s ideas support learning across the school year, across the curriculum, and across the grades.

 

Get the big picture. Read Kids, Cameras, and the Curriculum, and discover that one of your most powerful tools for learning is the one that’s also the most exciting for kids. Bring cameras into your teaching, focus your students’ creativity, and watch as a new image develops: one of a confident, literate classroom.